news4 at 6:00 starts now. >> preserve, protect, and defend. >> the constitution of the united states. >> the constitution of the united states. >> so help you god. >> so help me god. >> congratulations, mr. president. >> a new term begins for president barack obama officially sworn in. big crowds already descending on the national mall for the build yn hupp to tomorrow's public ceremony and parade. good evening. i'm jim rosenfield. it's been a busy day in and around washington. rehearsals on the inauguration stage and parade preparations leading to gridlock downtown. more streets will be closed tomorrow, but crews blocked off

pennsylvania avenue this morning to get ready for the inaugural parade. vice president joe biden took his official oath of office from supreme court justice sonia sotomayor at the naval observatory. soon after that he and the president laid a wreath at arlington national cemetery, and then at noon in the white house president obama received the official oath of office from chief justice john roberts, which the constitution requires on january 20th. we have team coverage of this inauguration sunday. darcy spencer is downtown where metro has seen double the typical sunday ridership. storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell tracking the inauguration day forecast. we start with chris gordon live on capitol hill. a lot of excitement in the air around d.c. today, chris. >> reporter: good evening. you could see at this hour on the mall people are milling about. it's a beautiful evening and the people are very friendly and excited down here. crowds, traffic growing. tomorrow the focus of the world will be on the u.s. capitol for

the inauguration, and today some of the people participating in inaugural activities got a front row view of history. long lines of people waited to get into metropolitan ame, the oldest african methodist episcopal church in washington, d.c., to be with the president and first family. >> i'm very much excited. all the way from africa just to be here and watch it with obama. >> reporter: moments later motorcades arrived thrilling the crowds. >> he leaned forward and waved. i saw him directly and it made me happy. i wanted to wave and say, we support you. >> reporter: the president and mrs. obama heard a sermon that reflected the theme of this inaugural. >> in all of our undertakings, we need to move forward under his leadership, move forward under his guidance and direction. i think if the country can come together and do that, we'll be a better place. >> reporter: today the president was sworn in on the bible used by abraham lincoln in the white house. tomorrow martin luther king's bible that accompanied him on

marches, in jail cells, through times of struggle and sacrifice. >> dr. king knocked down walls, and he was scarred and stabbed and killed and jailed. barack obama crossed bridges from the rocks knocked down from the walls. >> reporter: civil rights lieders, actor jamie foxx joined in the wreath laying. >> i think it's a great day, an intersection of history where you have the president, who is the first black president, being inaugurated for the second time on dr. king holiday. >> reporter: parents brought their children to be part of it, visitors took pictures to remember this day. gail punch came from dallas, texas, to be here. >> i get medicare, medicaid. i was a precinct chair. i have problems walking, but i wouldn't let nothing stop me. >> reporter: and you don't have to let anything stop you either. even if you don't have a ticket, you can come down to the mall

and stand between 4th and 14th streets. this is the kind ever view you would get. there are also wide screen tvs. you might decide the best place to watch it all is right here on tv. that's the latest live from the mall. back to you, jim. >> you have to like crowds, chris. thanks. and streets already being shut down in d.c. tonight. crews put up gates and posted restricted parking signs downtown today. part of pennsylvania avenue is already shut down and dozens of streets will be closed starting at 3:00 a.m. monday. those restrictions will stay in place through tomorrow night. ♪ some performers in tomorrow's inaugural parade did some practicing today. floats began arriving at the staging area on c street. among them a float honoring the tus key cankegee airmen. the plane's owner says he's proud to have it on display tomorrow. >> the tuskegee airmen helped win the war, you know, to

provide us with our freedom that we have today. >> there's also a float honoring martin luther king, jr. tomorrow's parade falls on the civil right leader's national holiday and there are floats representing the first and second family's home states, hawaii, illinois, pennsylvania, and delaware. again, the parade route will force more street closures tomorrow. for complete travel information, go to nbcwashington.com/inauguration, and click on our locals guide. it was another sunny day on the national mall but we're still expecting a chilly inauguration day. here is storm team 4 meteorologist chuck bell with a look at the forecast. hey, chuck. >> good evening. good evening, everybody. there are no guarantees in the weather department but i guarantee you this, it's going to be colder tomorrow than today. downsloping winds allowed a 62 degree high temperature today. we're down to 50 degrees right now, but already back into the upper 30s in northern and western maryland. the wind is still quite gusty. gusting between 20 and 30 miles

an hour across much of the area. the wind will continue to lay down during the course of the evening, but it's going to be a mild evening, yes, but that's the leading edge of the colder air. enjoy the 40s this evening, everybody. we'll be lucky to get back into the low and mid-40s tomorrow for high temperatures. the rest of the cold forecast coming up. >> see you in a bit. crowds are here. the proof came today after metro announced it ran out of commemorative smart trip cards. lines were really long at metro centers as people tried to get the last of them. darcy spencer is live downtown tonight where she spoke to some excited visitors. hi, darcy. >> reporter: hi, jim. i couldn't even get one. if i tried to jump ahead in line, i think there would have been major problems. there are tons of people in town, many of them are taking metro. usually on a sunday evening downtown is pretty quiet. you can see there are tons of people out, even at this hour. and if you were hoping to get one of those special smart trip cards at this point, it's too late. >> any day you want all day long. >> reporter: at metro center downtown people waited in line

to get these, the commemorative obama inaugural smart trip cards selling for 15 bucks apiece. >> i have been to two different metro stations before getting here, and i got them. >> how many? two? >> reporter: the cards sold out across the system around noon, but word spread that there were a few thousand left still for sale here. metro ordered 100,000 standards, more than what sold in 2009. >> i think it's a collector's item, but i have family here, so i use them every time i come back. >> reporter: it's been a busy day for metro and it's not even inauguration day yet. officials say as of 3:00 p.m., 167,000 people had taken metro, about double the ridership compared to last sunday. >> it was pretty busy. kind of crowded, but not too bad. wasn't as bad as last time. >> reporter: and on the national mall, thousands of people are already here taking in the sights and museums on this inauguration eve. >> it's been hard. lines, everywhere is lines but i'm used to lines.

so you got to be patient because it's all worth it. >> reporter: so if you're planning to use metro tomorrow, do yourself a favor. whether you have one of the special inaugural cards or just a regular smart trip card, make sure you have enough money on there where you don't have to stand in line. you can just go ahead through. metro will open its doors tomorrow 4:00 a.m. reporting live from downtown washington, darcy spencer, news4. >> as the man said, have some patience, too. thanks, darcy. president obama and the vice president weren't the only ones being sworn in today. >> professionalism. >> professionalism. >> imparrality. >> impartiality. >> these law enforcement officers from all across the country took an oath as deputy u.s. marshals. they're in town to help with security during tomorrow's inauguration festivities. these 2,000 extra officers will help out the secret service, the park service, the d.c. police department, and other agencies just to make sure everything goes as planned.

>> it's a once in a lifetime deal for us. i'm glad to be a part of history. >> the extra officers come from as nearby as prince george's county and as far away as seattle, washington. stay with news4 for continuing coverage of this big inauguration weekend. news4 today starts extra early tomorrow morning live from capitol hill starting at 4:00 a.m. and tomorrow afternoon jim vance and doreen gensler anchoring our parade coverage live atop the newseum. >> coming up tonight, new information coming out after that hostage standoff in algeria. soldiers getting a closer look inside the plant "today." president obama set to back just the second president to take the oath of office four times. how the third try

police in prince george's county are trying to figure out who shot and killed a teenager overnight. 16-year-old marcus jones was shot along webster lane in ft. washington around midnight. he was taken to the hospital but he died a short time later. police say they're following, quote, substantial leads. the death toll continues to climb in algeria one day after the hostage standoff came to an end there. today algerian forces confirmed 25 more bodies were found inside this natural gas plant militants seized last week. that brings the total to 81

dead, including one american. five other americans remain unaccounted for tonight. new video tonight shows damage left behind from the deadly standoff. the algerian government says all 32 militants responsible have been killed. still to come on news4 at 6:00, d.c. mayor vincent gray speaking at the wreath laying. what he called the hypocrisy of aur democracy. we're expecting a chilly inauguration day but chuck says even colder air is o

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♪ a little lighter side of today's official swearing in. president obama hugged his family after taking the oath of office in the white house. what you might not have heard was the exchange between the commander in chief and his younger daughter sasha. >> good job, dad. >> i did it. >> in case you missed it sasha congratulated her dad on not messing up, a reference to the president's first inauguration in 2009 when there was some confusion during the oath, so much so that chief justice roberts administered it a second time a day later just as a precaution. mayor gray is using the inauguration to bring the issue of d.c. statehood to the forefront. gray spoke during a ceremony today at the martin luther king, jr. memorial. he called d.c.'s situation the

hypocrisy of democracy. gray said the united states is reportedly the greatest democracy in the world, but doesn't have democracy in its own capital city. there are literally dozens of inaugural themed parties and celebrations going on this weekend from the district to maryland and virginia. everybody is getting in the inaugural spirit. news4's eric gonzalez is live at the westin in arlington where they're getting ready for the virginia inaugural ball. hi, erica. looking beautiful there. >> reporter: things are getting under way here at the virginia state inaugural ball, and people should be arriving here within the next few minutes. tickets -- they will start making entry about 6:30. the doors officially open at 7:00, and take a look at the room. it's looking pretty gorgeous right about now. stars and stripes all over the place. the band back there from virginia, of course, gonzo's nose getting ready to play the event again.

starts at 7:00 tonight. we'll go through 11:00 this evening. you have buffet lines set up in the middle of the room. this will be pushed back to make space for anywhere from 1200 to 1500 people to be here tonight. anyone from tim kaine as well as a list celebrities from "the west wing." tonight it's all here in the state of virginia going to 11:00. the hip-hop summit, $2,500 for the vip ticket there. the dream moving forward featuring patti labelle and angela bassett. we will be live tonight news4 at 11:00 at the gaylord hotel in the national harbor. back to you, jim. >> erica, sounds like a lot of fun. everybody wants to know what do i wear? how heavy a layer do i need going out? >> dress in layers for tomorrow if you're going to be out because by the time you get up tomorrow morning temperatures will be generally back down into the 30s for most locations.

so a little bit of the bundle up first thing in the morning. i think we'll see a little recovery tomorrow back up into the low, maybe mid-40s for a brief time but compared to our nice day today, that will feel cold. how nice was it today? how about 62 degrees outside? even with the wind. the wind was coming straight down the mountains, and as a result, it got compressed and warmed up as it came through. there's a live look at ronald reagan's washington national airport right now. 62 today. not a record for the date, but it is the warmest inauguration day on record. the unofficial record because it's hard to have weather records that far back. march 4th, 1793, george washington's inauguration, 61 degrees. officially the warmest inauguration day is 55 from reagan's first inaugural. we're at 55 degrees in washington. winds remain strong out of the northwest at 18 miles per hour. that northwest wind, that's the leading edge of the colder air we've been talking about for days. it is inbound, and this warmer air is on its way out.

so as you make your plans for tomorrow, a colder start than this morning. temperatures in the 30s climbing into the mid-40s tomorrow, but clouds on the increase tomorrow, and there will be a chance for some passing snow showers late in the day. so good-bye to the warmer air. as the cold snap starts to roll in here, the leading edge of the arctic air arrives around sunset tomorrow and that will set us up for a sunny, windy, and bitterly cold day on tuesday. there will be a chance tomorrow, 5:00, of o'clock in the evening for a little spit of a snow flurry or two but that's about it. overnight tonight into tomorrow morning, partly cloudy, colder than this morning, 25 out west to 32 in town. then tomorrow becoming a mostly cloudy day. flurries possible late in the afternoon. here is your inauguration planner. you're heading out to the mall tomorrow morning. temperatures low to mid-30s, and then as you get to the ceremony swearing in time around noon, upper 30s to low and mid-40s, and parade weather, cold, flurries, and turning breezy as well. the all-important seven-day

forecast still looking for a major cold snap. our coldest snap in more than two years coming up. could even lead us to a little chance for a little rain/snow mix on friday. keeping an eye on that, but so long 60s. it will be a long wait to see them again. >> it is january. >> it is january. >> chuck, thanks. coming up in sports a thriller in atlanta with a trin to the super bowl on the line. jason is up next with highlights from the nfc championshi

jason is here. falcons, 49ers. >> this is it. this game leads to you where you really want to be, the super bowl. the atlanta falcons have been the best team in the nfc all season, but their receiver roddy white said every week they're picked to lose. it's no surprise why the birds were home underdogs against the 49ers. you can understand why though the niners quarterback colin kaepernick had a historic game last week. today it was a total team effort for the niners. falcons claiming their first nfc championship game since 2004. the niners with back-to-back trips. second quarter matt ryan, he's going to fire one to the end zone for julio jones, and jones brings it in for the 20-yard score. great job keeping both feet in on the play. falcons lead it 17-0. niners would come back though. fourth quarter down by three. colin kaepernick is going to hand it off to his running back, frank gore, and gore would find an open lane. he cashes in from five yards out. niners take their first lead of the ball game, 28-24.

under two minutes to go, falcons going for it on fourth down. ryan looking for roddy white, but it's broken up by bowman, and that will do it. the niners, they pull out the win, 28-24. they will face the winner of baltimore and new england in the super bowl. there's still a very good chance of a harbaugh super bowl in new orleans if the ravens win tonight. the wizards haven't had too many games this season that have come down to the final few seconds. but since the return of john wall, that's been the case. with not much experience in finishing out and closing games, the wiz fell short last night. friends exchanging pleasantries before the game after trailing by as many as 12 in the first half, the wiz are down by 5 in the fourth quarter. bradley with the corner three and he would drain it capping a 14-4 run to start the fourth quarter. wiz withintwo. but l.a., they would not fold.

up by three, just over 30 seconds to play, and chris paul, he's going to cross up john wall and sinks the jumper. the six-time all-star making wall look a little silly. clippers go on to win it 94-87. the wizards will be back tomorrow night in portland. it's finally here. the nhl season is under way. the caps wish they could push the reset button. it wasn't the start andy oaks -- adam oaks, excuse me, envisioned as his team gave up six goals in an ugly loss. behind the bench for the first time as caps head coach. second period, lightning up 3-2. mike ribeiro gets the turnover and fires off the pad. first goal as a cap. we're all tied at three. later in the third, still tied at three. capitals with two men in the

penalty box and martin st. louis to steven stamkos. back to st. louis for the goal, and he had two goals in this game. lightning take a 4-3 lead. >> we definitely had a few miscues and with forwards as good as they are, they're going to put it in the back of the net when you make a mistake. i think they capitalized on every single one of our mistakes. >> discipline will win you games. we cannot give teams five, six goals and expect to win any game. >> the caps will play their home opener this tuesday at the verizon center when they host the winnipeg jets. in college basketball the teneth ranked terps women met up with georgia tech and didn't have too much trouble thanks to mel lace sa thomas. to atlanta, that yellow jacket on the attack but the team was not. early second half, terps up three and turning up the defense. thomas comes up with the steal,

and she is unstoppable in transition. she played all 40 minutes today and was far from done. less than two minutes later, off the jackets' miss, the terps on the break again. thomas racing down court. she gets the bucket to go with this little bump. she had a game high 28 points and added 10 rebounds. maryland win it 66-57. so one super bowl contender is set. we're waiting for rave ravens/patriots. >> that's the news for now. "nightly news" is coming up next. we'll be back here for news4 at 11:00. until then have a great night.